Coming Out
by Covenmouse
Summary: Misunderstanding, mishaps, and plenty of herbal tea.
1. Chapter One

Coming Out

  


by: Panchan1/Beka/whatever else you call me.

  


Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. bleg. 

  
  


Author's Note: I'm forgetting Endless Waltz, and combining elements of both the manga and the anime (like how in the manga the boys all went off to mars at the end of the series, not Noin and Milliardo.) And, uh... they're in the twenties, I just couldn't figure out how to write that in. In other words, this is kind of an AU... and yes, I'm pulling the horribly used plot of them all being in Preventors. 

  
  
  
  


Chapter One

  


Chang Wufei's ebony eyes rose from his paperwork to meet the pleading blue eyes in front of him. Quatre had dropped to his knees this time, resting his head in his arms on the one clear spot on Wufei's desk and was in the process of assuming his most pathetic pout. "C'mon, Wufei," he pleaded as their eyes met, "Just this once."

  


"I'm busy."

  


"You're always busy," Quatre rolled his eyes as Wufei returned his attention to the paper, "You never get out, rarely speak, and are always days ahead of your work. I'm surprised you haven't already worked yourself out of a job! .. or anyone else for that matter. You can take a few hours off, and besides Lady Une herself is throwing the party, its not like she's going to get angry with you."

  


Wufei only grunted in reply; it was obvious that, as usual, he wasn't going to comply. Finally, Quatre stood, using the desk to help himself up, and then brushed the dust from the knees of his off-white slacks. He threw Wufei one last, disappointed look before going to join the others for the office's annual Halloween party.

  


For the life of him, Quatre couldn't understand Wufei's reluctance to join in; even Heero came to the parties! But no, no matter what anyone said, Wufei would never come. He softly closed the door to the office and continued down the silent hallway to the elevator. 

  


It had surprised him, the first time he noticed Wufei's absences from the gatherings, how strongly it affected him. Granted, he had always preferred it when their group was together, even during the wars, but this was different. Back then he had wanted them together because he could feel, somehow, that they were meant to fight together; that as soon as they learned to work together, all of the fighting could be over.

  


Now the war was over, and sure enough he had been right! Afterwards they had spent three years on Mars in friendship and now the four other boys were a special part of Quatre's life. A part of him wondered if it was strange for a male to have such close relations with other males, but he simply kicked that part of him away. That kind of thinking is what leads to depression and self-loathing and all other manner of bad things. Besides, Quatre knew full-well the only reason it was considered wrong was because society still had left over feelings from the stone-age in which men had to be able to fight anyone and anything to keep them and their offspring alive. No, loving such close friends was perfectly normal--male or female.

  


The cold metal button beneath his finger shocked him back into reality as he found himself calling the elevator at the end of the hall. Quatre chuckled softly at his own expense and then stepped in the waiting lift. He pressed the button for the lobby, and found himself staring at the office door he had just left as it rapidly disappeared behind unforgiving doors.   
  
"Wufei..." Quatre sighed, leaning back against the cool metal wall behind him. At first it had been only friendship, but as Quatre had gotten to know the man, his feelings had grown beyond all recognition. Secretly Quatre hated this part of himself, for he knew Wufei wasn't gay. The whole office knew, even though the two wouldn't confirm it, that Wufei and Sally had been an "item" for more than a year now. It could be worse, Quatre told himself, you could actually be in love with him. And for as long as these feelings remained, Quatre would continue to tell himself that it was simple lust, and not love that he felt for the Chinese man. Lust didn't hurt you as much.

  


As for getting Wufei to come to the parties, that was purely in friendship. Though the sensible side of Quatre knew that Wufei didn't really want to come and he shouldn't be pushing the issue, Quatre couldn't help but think that Wufei was wasting his life away in that office. Sure, he had Sally but she was gone on missions with her partner, Noin, ninety percent of the time, and wufei did nothing anymore but eat, sleep and work. It just wasn't right. 

  


"Not coming again?" Due asked when Quatre stepped out of the elevator. The Arab shook his head, "Afraid not."  
  
"Well, don't say I didn't tell you so. It's a lost battle, Q-man," Duo shrugged, slipping an arm over Quatre's shoulders and leading him out to the company garage where he had left his prized possession: a black Mustang Convertible with a white leather interior. 

  


Now, here was a shocker: Duo wasn't gay. Quatre shook his head, laughing at the memories of it all. At first, after coming to terms with his own sexuality, he had believed that Duo was also gay. That had lead to a few strange moments between them, but Duo being the extremely open-minded, had forgiven everything as an honest mistake. After all, most people had a hard time discerning homosexual and metro sexual. Of all Quatre's friends and family, Duo was the only one who knew his little secret. \

  


Upon reaching the car, Duo let go of Quatre and ran to give "Bess," his car, a loving peck on her shiny black hood. Anyone else would have been disgusted, but Quatre knew that Duo kept his car clean enough to eat off of. Not that he would dare try that, as Duo was in the habit of murdering anyone who got food anywhere near his precious vehicle. 

  


Quatre circled around to the passenger seat and climbed in as Duo hopped easily over the door into the driver's side. Whistling a happy tune, the braided man backed the car out and soon they were blazing down the highway to Lady Une's flat. 


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: you know the drill. I don't own the characters, not making any money off of this either.

Chapter Two

Wufei managed to finish the last of his reports in blessed silence. He loved holidays as there was no one else in the building but him and the security guards. After packing some papers into his briefcase, filing a few others, and setting the last ones in the proper in-boxes of his fellow Preventor office workers, he was ready to go. As Wufei turned back to his desk to grab his briefcase and coat, the door to the office opened.   
  
"Well, well, well.." Sally Poe grinned, leaning against the door frame, "Look who's still at the office, and when there's a fabulous office party going on, too."

Wufei snorted, pulling on his soft leather jacket, "Get to the point, Sally."

"Just wondering what you're afraid of, Woofie." If she thought he would rise to the bait by her use of that hated nickname she was sadly disappointed.

"You know why I don't go. I dislike parties; too many people, too much loud, tasteless music, and too many would-be executives kissing Une's ass."

"Okay! Okay!" Sally let up, moving aside so he could pass, she then flicked the light switch to off and closed the door behind her before following him down the hall; he had learned long ago not to try using chivalry with her, she was far too independent.

"It wouldn't hurt you, thought," She continued mildly, "To be a little kinder to your friends. He's worried about you."

"Its none of his business," Wufei said, a little defensively.

"Still... " Sally shrugged. The elevator reached them quickly and they descended together. "What are you going to do tonight, then? Go home and do more paper work? Work yourself and others out of a job? A little pathetic, Wu."

"And that is none of your business," Wufei warned her. Sally may be his best friend but even she couldn't get away with making comments like that.

"Sorry!" Realizing her mistake, Sally added after a moment, "I guess I'm just worried too... but I should stay out of your business."

Wufei nodded. For those that knew him well enough, it was obvious that he had forgiven her.

"I assume you're off to the party then?" Wufei asked as they exited the lift and walked towards the garage.

"Ah! That's my business, now isn't it?" Sally joked. She was taken back when Wufei simply replied, "Fair enough."

"I was kidding, Wufei," She said dryly, taking out her keys to unlock her large, dark blue, Ford SVT Lightning® pickup truck. She had purposely parked right beside Wufei's black and silver Harley-Davidson FLHR/FLHRI Road King® so that he couldn't escape talking to her, "And yes, I am. Can't quite escape that, can I?"   
  
Wufei cracked a smile. Since she was living with Une it was certainly and impossibility. "Well, good luck to you, then."

Sally laughed as she--quite literally-- climbed into her titanic truck. She waved to Wufei after she closed the door and started the engine. Wufei raised his hand in acknowledgment and watched as Sally pulled out and drove off.

When she was gone, he rolled his eyes and fixed his briefcase into the compartment behind the seat of his motorcycle. He loved Sally more than he had any woman except his mother, but that truck of hers drove his nerves like nothing else. "Lesbians and their power issues," He muttered to himself, though he knew the comment was sexist and uncalled for.

He halted his motorcycle at the gate, debating wether he should eat at home or pick something up. There was this cozy little Chinese place near his apartment, but he ate there so often he was beginning to hate it. Across the road he noticed a deli that had just opened a few days ago. Mentally, he shrugged and scooted across to its parking not as soon as there was a window in the traffic.

He parked near the door so he could see his bike from the inside. It wasn't that he was paranoid, just careful. After all, that bike was the most expensive thing he owned, and he was not up for using public transportation. It took a bit, but he finally got his sandwich and got home.

Home. To Wufei that meant a small, inexpensive, but fairly nice, and always clean, one-bedroom apartment. He locked the three locks behind him and set his brief case and sandwich down on the round table that filled half of the dinky kitchen. His coat went on the hanger behind the door and he moved to the stove to heat up his herbal tea. It was then that the phone rang.

Wufei let it ring twice more before he answered it, "Hello, Chang residence."

"Heey! Wu-man!" Wufei winced, another of his hated nicknames. For the thousandth time he wondered why he hadn't killed Duo on Mars. The authorities would have been too preoccupied with the construction to investigate a little 'accident'. That he had thought such a thing shocked him into actually blocking out Duo's voice. A miracle in disguise.

"What was that, Duo?"  
  
"Geeze, ya don't even listen to me!" The brunette whined, "I was just callin' to find out where you were. We thought you'd come to the party."  
  
Quatre had gotten Duo in on it two? That guy had some nerve. "Well.. since you called my home phone and I had the lack of sense to answer it, it must mean that I'm at home. Secondly, you could have asked Quatre: I'm not coming, as usual. Good by--"

"Oh come on!" Duo sounded more gay than usual, as stereotypical as that was, "Even little mister "perfect soldier" goes to these parties."  
  
"Dorothy forces him to."

"And we can force you too!"  
  
"Are any of you sleeping with me?" There was a long, stunned silence from the other end of the phone. Apparently Duo didn't think that "uptight Wufei" could have said anything like that so easily. Wufei allowed himself a victorious smirk. "No, you're not. That's the difference between the situations."

"But Sally..." Duo really sounded confused now.

Actually, so was Wufei," What about her?"  
  
"Aren't you two.. I mean... We all thought.."  
  
Wufei's voice became hard, "Even if we were, I wouldn't tell you. That is our business, Duo. Now go back to the party." Until now he honestly hadn't know that anyone interpreted his and Sally's relationship in such a way. He knew the he was one of the few who knew about Sally and Une's relationship, but even the thought of him or Sally as straight.... wait a minute. Why did he just...? Not going to think about that right now.

"Hmpf. Fine." Duo said finally and hung up the phone. Wufei followed the action and went to rescue his tea before it boiled over. He knew Sally had no interest in men. She and Une both had made that quite clear, so it would have made sense to have thought ".. even the thought of Une or Sally as straight..." would have made sense. But....  
  
Wufei sighed and sat down at the table. Though his body was no longer telling him it needed food, he knew that it really did and forced himself to eat at least half the sandwich before wrapping the rest of it up and sticking it in the fridge. He hadn't thought about a woman--and women-- in... well... okay, he never had thought about a woman like that before. Trying not to feel horridly dirty, he attempted to call forth a mental image of his late wife, Meilan, into his brain, without clot-- oh hell no. That was just sick. He rubbed his temples.

Going about his usual routine like a robot, Wufei found himself in the shower a few moments later. The more he tried to think about woman, the more disgusted he became. Not that it meant anything, he could simply not be interested in anyone at all. He had met a few people like that. Of course, most of them had been rather cold and angry all the time. People who didn't seem to see much joy in the world. The only one he could think of that hadn't been like that had been his Aunt Zhu. She was always so happy and carefree, but completely obsessed with her God. He knew he wasn't like her. To others, Wufei may seem obsessed with his job, but it wasn't really the case. He was just... lost. He had finally been able to admit that to himself.

After the war, he didn't know where to go or what to do. He had gone to Mars because the others were going there, and he had helped build up the colonies there. Now that, that was over, he again followed the others to the Preventors. If he couldn't fight a war, he would help to prevent one. At least there still seemed to be a slight place in the world for the old soldiers. When he was too old to do this anymore, though, what would happen to him? Would he become one of them, the cold ones? ... was he already one of them?

Desperately searching for any spot of warmth within himself, Wufei tried again, this time one of Quatre's sisters that he had met a few moths ago. She was a little crazy, but according to Duo "damned sexy." Soft platinum hair, eyes that danced. The little spot near Quatre's mouth that seemed to sink in every time he smiled, the soft curve of his cheek. The surprisingly lithe body Wufei had glimpsed a few times before in the locker rooms at the Mars base... oh shit. Wufei went pale, his eyes widening a little in surprise, and horror. Was it normal for men to think of other men? He wasn't naive, he knew a few of the gay men that worked at the Preventor's office. He wasn't adverse to them, but... he had been raised to think that homosexuality was against nature itself. It was a weakness; a blasphemy. No, he wasn't gay. Wufei repeated that to himself as he turned off most of the hot water. When his body felt like a glacier, he stepped out of the shower and dried off before slipping into the soft silk sheets on his twin sized bed.

In the city you couldn't see the stars, you could barely see the moon. But Wufei imagined he could see the full moon, like a symbolization of his revelations. In a night he had changed into someone he barely recognized, as much as he hated to admit this.

I am not gay.

End of Chapter Two

A/N: Relwarc, Terra Rain, and Sheltie: Thank you guys for commenting! I'm glad you like this! Sorry about the slow update.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"...And then Duo.." Another burst of laughter emerged from the group of officers crowded around the doughnut box in the break room. Despite the fact that all of the had to have been at the party last night, and had witnessed the incident their leader was recounting, it still seemed to be incredibly funny. Wufei practically growled in annoyance. He certainly hadn't woken up in the best of moods that morning, and the feeling had only grown through the morning. Much to his annoyance, most of it was caused by the fact that he couldn't even force himself to look Quatre in the eye right now. So, of course the blonde had interpreted this as being angry with him for trying to force Wufei to go to the party and had spent most of the morning leaving little apology notes all over Wufei's desk when he had failed to get Wufei to speak with him.

Which made Wufei feel even worse. Yes, this day was going to hell very quickly. In Wufei's mind there was no possible way this could get worse, and predictably it did. Lady Une had called him into her office.

Expecting her usual lecture about at least trying to get along with his co-workers, Wufei marched himself into her office with a resigned look. Before even taking a look around he simply began, "Not that you would care, Une, but I'm having the world's worst day. This is really not the time to try discussing office politi--cs..." He stopped short, seeing a very recognizable, bright blonde man sitting in one of the seats around Lady Une's desk. He had wondered where Quatre had gone off to after lunch.

Lady Une smirked slightly, gesturing for Wufei to sit, even though she already knew he would refuse, "If you'll allow me explain, Mr. Chang?"  
  
Wufei tried his damnedest not to flush, and actually succeeded. As she had thought, he refused the seat and gave her a curt nod of acknowledgment. "Since you've been handling most of the paper work from this sector, you'll know that there's been a few intelligence leaks in the Hong Kong region lately."  
  
Another nod.

"What you shouldn't know," She fixed him with a look, not quite sure if he did or not. The five ex-Gundam pilots had ways of surprising her with things they really shouldn't know about. Especially Heero, "Is that these leaks have been increasing. A few days ago, there was a major theft of a supply of Gundanium at one of our bases."  
  
"We knew about the attack, but not that," Quatre interjected softly, "Was that all that was taken?"  
  
"There were a few minor bombs as well. What worries us is that our best agents down there can't seem to find them. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that they're too close to the area; the thief most likely knows who down there is with the Preventors and isn't letting them get too close. If he was smart enough to steal items like that from under their noses, he should be able to keep away from them easily." She had somehow managed to sound contemptuous of the thief and respectful at the same time.

Both the men nodded, seeing the logic in this. Quatre was the first to speak, "Did they find anything at all, though?"  
  
"Hm.. sort of. They believe, though they're vague as to why, that the thief has connections to the intelligence leak. We've narrowed down the places that the mole could be at to two locations, and I need undercover agents to check them out."  
  
It was all Wufei could do to not back out. This was the last thing he needed now, especially after last night, but his honor wouldn't allow him to back out. Lady Une thought he was best for the job, and she was probably right. He was Chinese, and as racist as it was, Hong Kong was primarily Chinese run, even in today's society. He would fit in better, and it'd be easier for him to get a job there. He couldn't quite figure out why she had chosen Quatre as his partner, though.

"Wufei... well, besides your being one of our best spies, and honorable to a fault, I'm sure you realize that your nationality did have something to do with the selection," Lady Une confirmed, then looked to Quatre, "And though we have other Chinese agents that we could send, none of them are well trained as spies. I need Heero else where, but I'm not sure I'd send him anyway. Despite his reputation, he is far too impulsive for spy work. Quatre... While you don't fit in ethnically, you have a way with people that's amazing. Plus, you speak fluent Chinese, correct?"  
  
"Yes ma'am," Quatre replied automatically. He hadn't really expected her to simply offer the answers to the questions he had thought of. Normally she didn't bother to explain herself. "Are there any details about the mission that we should know about?"  
  
Again Lady Une nodded, seeming to be grateful that these two weren't wasting time with unnecessary questions, "There are." She handed him, since he was closer, a thick file folder crammed full of papers, "Those you can read over in your own time, just the basic run down of things. However, there are some differences with this mission than others. If possible, we'd prefer you two to be in as close contact as possible, even publically. Its odd for a spy mission, I know, but... "  
  
"Hiding in the open," Wufei stated simply.  
  
"Exactly. Our psychologist predict that this thief, while feeling confident at the moment, could be turned desperate at any second. If either of you or both of you gets close to him or her, and he checks it out... there are certain details about your pasts that we can't hide, especially if he knows anything about the Gundam Pilots. You're not unidentified people any more. If you suddenly show up pretending not to know one another...."  
  
"But what about our ties with the preventors?" It made sense that Quatre wouldn't know, he hadn't been asked to do any field work at all since the war.   
  
"Those have always been carefully covered. The last anyone knew is that the Gundam Pilots were on Mars. Other than that it's a careful past that we've constructed and have been updating for you. Loosely based on the truth, of course. The entire thing is in there," She tapped the folder, "For you to memorize. Yours has been updated, Wufei." He nodded.

"Any other questions?"  
  
"When do we leave, how do we get there, and have arrangements been made before hand?"

Lady Une smiled, "Tomorrow morning, preferably, we've got you booked on the next flight to Hong Kong. You'll start out as students fresh from college. We've got an expense account set up for you to fall back on, but it isn't much, of course; I'm afraid you'll have to rely on your other jobs to supplement. We can't send you any pay checks from here, of course." They both nodded, understanding this entirely. "The street address of your new apartment is in the folder. It's a tiny little place that one of the agents there checked out herself, under the pretenses of looking to rent. A few weeks later, Wufei, you called about the add you saw online for it, and made the mistake of saying yes before coming to see it yourself-- don't worry it's not that bad." She had caught his wince, "It is tiny, though, but one of the few that could pass on your budget. Oh, and there will be some basic furniture--"

"But most will be cardboard till we can provide better." Wufei supplied, cutting this short, "Anything else that's important."  
  
Lady Une arched a fine brown eyebrow at his attitude but said nothing, for once. She was already asking a lot of them, even if it was her right to ask it. "That's all if there are no more questions."  
  
Quatre shook his head, and Wufei figured it was obvious that he had heard enough. "Right then. You're both dismissed for the day. Your plane tickets are in the folder, of course, and the flight leaves at nine a.m. at the Whitewing Airport."  
  
They were silent for a time in the hallway, even though they walked together, finally Quatre ventured timidly, "It's about noon, right? Why don't we go grab something to eat and look this over?"  
  
There was a long pause, and Quatre was about to mutter an apology--though he was getting really irritated by how Wufei was acting-- before the Chinese man nodded, "Where to?"

"Ah... "  
  
"You like subs, don't you?" Wufei asked when Quatre paused, relying on past experience from Mars. He hadn't really gone out with the others in a while since then. Almost two years... had it really been so long?"  
  
"Yeah. Oh! That new place across the street! Have you been there yet?"  
  
"Last night. It's pretty good." He shrugged.   
  
"If you care for a repeat..."  
  
"Fine by me... We can walk, or ride across.. there's not much traffic just yet," Wufei looked out the window before they stepped into the elevator that would take them down to the garage, "Take my bike, of course. no point in the both of us driving across the street."  
  
"I guess that works... ....." There was a bit of silence, and the elevator doors opened, leaving them to blink as the light suddenly doubled. It was amazing bright outside today, and the garage had enough 'windows' in it that they got a lot of the light. Wufei wondered how bad it was going to be outside. As they made their way to the motorcycle---Wufei had actually gotten to work "late" for once and hadn't managed to park up-front, even though he still got a space on the first level-- Quatre opened his mouth again, "Listen...about last night--"

"For the last time, I'm not mad at you!" Wufei snapped, reaching his bike and tossing the helmet to Quatre.   
  
"Well you certainly seem like it!" Quatre snapped back, his cheeks reddening a little. The two stared at each other from across the bike for a long moment.

Quatre's sudden anger seemed to catch in his throat as he looked at Wufei. Oh God, he wanted him. Was he really this needy? Christ, and he was going to have to live with him for who knew how long! This would never work. He could see the quick anger sparkling in Wufei's eyes, even behind the thin framed glasses Wufei had taken to wearing again now that the war was over. He had let his hair grow a bit longer, it'd reach his shoulder blades if he'd let it down, Quatre guessed. Right now his gel-slicked hair shone with nearly white highlights in the midday sun. Quatre always marveled at the colour of Wufei's hair, he had never seen anyone else--even a pure blooded Chinese-- with hair quite that shade. Of course this scrutiny of his face lead to thoughts about the rest of Wufei's body. Quatre didn't drop his gaze from Wufei, his cheeks reddening a little more at the thought of Wufei ever finding out about his... liking for him. Instead he saw with his memory. The way the white shirt clung to Wufei's broadened shoulders, the slight tightening of the fabric around his waist. Wufei had finally let go of the "Chinese only" dressing style, though his fashion sense still wasn't much better, but at least he was wearing stark black slacks now, with nicely polished black shoes, and a pair of black socks. Duo had had a fit when Wufei had had the audacity to come in wearing white socks with black pants and shoes, even though they were hidden under the too-long pants.   
  
Quatre was... angry with him. Oh this wasn't the way to start off this mission. Still... he couldn't help but let his irritation hang in his voice. Much to his exasperation, he had never been good at hiding his anger. Anything else and he was fine, but anger... maybe he should do as Duo advised him at least once a day: take some anger management courses. Finally Quatre looked away, his cheeks still burning. Wufei blinked, suddenly struck by the realization that Quatre was amazingly adorable at this moment. Quatre had grown up since the war, and it hadn't been that obvious to Wufei until now. When you see someone almost everyday, you sometimes don't notice the little changes that are made over time, the ones that gradually grow into big changes. Quatre had filled out, even though he was still rather small for a male and rather effeminate. His platinum hair had actually softened even further to where it was almost silver-white, but it didn't make him look elderly... more like angelic. Quatre had let it grow a little, but for the most part it was still in the same short style of their childhood. The baby fat hadn't quite left his cheeks, but there was a noticeable difference from the chipmunk like roundness that had been there a few years back. As always Quatre dressed stylishly, like the rich guy he was. It amazed him how Quatre managed to be the co-president of the Winner Corp. plus a full-time Preventor. Of course, Adria Winner was more than capable of handling the company herself, its just that the board wouldn't accept Quatre's resignation without taking the company out of Winner hands. They refused to have a female as sole leader of their company, as disgusting as it was, and they were completely in their rights to do it by the laws of the Arabian Colonies that they were stationed on. Still...

A play of light near Quatre's throat as he fidgeted a little attracted Wufei's attention once more. There was a thin gold chain there, just a bit too loose to qualify as a choker, surrounded by the black collar of the high-necked, but left open shirt that Quatre was wearing... a shirt that seemed to be tight in all the right places. What the hell was he thinking? Wufei tore his eyes away just in time to miss Quatre's glance up at him.   
  
"Look..." Wufei said finally, sighing softly, "I'm just getting annoyed by the constant apologizing. I'm over... last night." He wasn't sure what to call that, "your prying" having sounded too harsh even in his head, "Let's just drop it, okay?"  
  
"Right... S--er... right," Quatre replied sheepishly. Wufei gave him a long look then smirked slight and took the folder from Quatre and put it in the motorcycles compartment before straddling the vehicle. He waited for Quatre to climb on behind him, trying not to think too much at the light touches at his waist. Quatre was hesitant about touching him, even though it was pretty much required for this kind of thing. It was a little odd, and not just because of the fact that his body was trying to tell him how much he liked this, but because he had rarely had anyone else riding on his motorcycle with him before. Only Sally, really, and even then very rarely.   
  
"You'll have to hang on a bit tighter than that," He said a little gruffly, "Even for a short trip like this." Quatre tried not to gulp. What was this? "Test Quatre's self-control day"? Mentally, Quatre chuckled. Okay, fine, he'd have fun with this. Wufei told him to hang on, right? He got a little closer to him and wrapped his arms around Wufei's waist, and then was surprised by feeling a slight ripple of surprise run through Wufei's body. The Chinese man had tensed up... Quatre considered letting go, but by that time Wufei had started the motorcycle and was headed for the garage's exit, where he would wait for a window in the traffic across the six-lane freeway. Why did the Preventor's office have to be built by such a busy road, anyway? Then again, they could have always picked a different place to eat, maybe have taken Quatre's VMW "Bug"... then again, he wasn't sure if Wufei knew that he drove a "bug" and wondered a bit about the man's reaction to it. As far as Duo had been concerned, the bright pink vehicle had been the biggest tip off to Quatre's sexual preference, though Quatre prefered to consider that a little stereotypical.

It was definatly bright outside and they missed a few chances while Wufei let his eyes adjust, but Quatre really didn't mind as much as he told himself that he did. It was kind of nice being so close to Wufei; he just couldn't inform Wufei of that. He closed his eyes for a moment, imagining he could hear Wufei's heartbeat, even through the helmet and the roar of the traffic. It was just then that Wufei spotted his chance and they made their little dash across the road. Quatre yelped softly in surprise, and had to hold a little tighter to Wufei to keep from falling off for a moment. He couldn't deny his embarrassment a few moments later, having to face Wufei once more. He didn't apologize, though, he figured that would just tick Wufei off again.

Wufei had been a little startled when Quatre had tightened his grip, but he understood why. Still, he couldn't bring himself to look at the other man at first. Maybe he should ask Sally what to-- no, that idea was right out there. Besides, he told himself, I'm NOT gay. He's just very feminine, that's why I feel this way. He ignored the little voice in the back of his head that told him otherwise.

He ordered his sandwich then looked at Quatre, waiting for the other man to order. Quatre did so, finding himself unable to do anything but comply with Wufei giving him that kind of look, but jumped out of his meekness when he realized that Wufei was just about to pay for him, "W-what?"  
  
"Shush." Was all Wufei said at first, taking the tray from the woman after he payed for it and moving off to a seat, forcing Quatre to follow.   
  
"But... How much was that, I should--"  
  
"Quatre... don't look the gift horse in the mouth. Now eat," Wufei pointedly started in on his own sandwich. After a moment of staring at him, Quatre soon followed suit, albeit hesitantly. He was used to Duo or Trowa and himself trading off paying for their meals out, but this was strangely different. He had actually planned on paying for Wufei's lunch, a sort of apology--again, even though Wufei had told him not to-- and because he had been the one that suggested going out, how had Wufei managed to manipulate the situation so? Then again, why was he worrying about it? He'd get the chance to pay Wufei back one way or the other. And the notorious dirty thought that followed that made him take another quick bite of his sandwich to hid the beginnings of a blush. What was wrong with him, lately?

"Okay," Wufei said finally, dragging the folder up on the table and beginning to rifle through the papers, "This is the background you asked for."  
  
It took a moment for Quatre to realize what he meant, then why he had phrased it that way, and then took the papers from Wufei, very aware of those cool jet eyes on him. "Thanks.." He said quietly, looking them over. It shouldn't be too hard to commit to memory. He and Wufei would just have to some small points to make it seem more believable.

"We can go over it later," Wufei said after a moment, catching Quatre's eye and making sure the blonde saw him turning on his recorder, a tiny device hidden in his watch, now standard issue for all preventors. Quatre nodded and began to "reminisce" with his old friend, making up the small points of their past as they went, with the tape silently recording it all for future reference.

END CHAPTER THREE

A/N: VERY short time between updates this time cause I felt super inspired. I"m not sure how often this is going to happen .


	4. Chapter Four

Coming Out

A/N:

Indiansummer: Thankies!

Becbet: Wu-babe is my fav. too, so I really work hard on writing him correctly! I'm glad y'all think its good . Thank you very much.

Saturation2: Sorry I didn't write a note to you last chapter since you commented (though they were rather close together. hehe) And they will be TONS more embarrassed by the end of this. evil laugh

Pixie Smith: Oh yes, the possibilities are great, and they will be exploited . Its funny, I started writing this fic, and then I started really getting into the 5X2 pairing. I still LOVE 5X4, though, so this story isn't going to suffer at all, I promise. As for the SallyXUne thing... I don't know what possessed me, but I still really like them together. shrugs Anyway, thank you for your comments .

Chapter Four

"I think we might have a problem," Quatre said quietly to Wufei as they tried to get their baggage off the terminal. They had already gone through customs and had gotten their passports checked. Everything was taken care of except finding a taxi to get them to their new home.   
  
"What might that be?" Wufei asked, finally snagging a duffle bag of Quatre's. Apparently someone thought that luggage terminal was supposed to revolve at fifty miles per hour. With the mood he was in, he would gladly kill the person in charge of it... that or get Duo to talk to him. After brief consideration, the latter seemed more appealing; torture always worked best.

"I learned Mandarin."  
  
Wufei looked at him, carefully. He was a little stupefied at first before he realized that not everyone was taught both dialects growing up. A little known fact was that while Mandarin was the official language of China, in certain places, such as Hong Kong, Cantonese was more widely spoken. Due to the fact that Hong Kong still had its own government almost entirely separate from the main Chinese government, the official language of Hong Kong remained Cantonese. While there were some similarities between Mandarin and Cantonese, they weren't quite compatible. In fact, knowing one rarely meant that you could understand a speaker of the other dialect at all. This might prove a problem.

"Should we..." Wufei started to say, stopped because he wasn't sure if he should discuss that in public, then realized that barely ten percent of the population spoke any English at all. So long as they spoke in English and acted as if everything was normal, no one should question it since Quatre was Angelo-Saxon. Most would assume he was American, British or even Canadian. ".. contact home base?"  
  
"No," Quatre replied, snagging another of their bags, this time Wufei's, "Its too late. I wish we had thought of this before. I can try and pick up on the language, besides I don't think anyone will think anything of it. I doubt our landlord will be expecting me to know any Chinese at all."  
  
"She will," Wufei shook his head, "Remember, there are very few English speakers around here, except for the tourists. Since you're going to live here, she's going to expect Chinese. Letting her know that you speak Mandarin will help shield her curiosity since you at least know some." Wufei paused to make a lunge for another of the bags. He caught it and continued, "Most are going to expect you to know Cantonese, and you'll have to know it to get a job anywhere, even with our connections."  
  
Quatre chewed on his lip, his silver-fine eyebrows furrowing in concentration. He grabbed the last of their bags, finally, and they headed outside to attempt getting a taxi. Wufei couldn't be happier for the distraction of attempting to hail a cab in the crowd outside the airport, it meant that he could stop staring at those soft-looking lips which were still being grazed by Quatre's almost inhumanly pearl-white teeth, turning the flesh a little more pink.

Finally one of the little green and silver cars stopped for him and they loaded their things into the trunk before sliding into the backseat.   
  
Wufei leaned over the front seat a little to speak with the driver. Cantonese; Quatre pretended to look out the window at the crowd but in truth saw nothing, just let all his senses focus at the conversation in the car. He could understand a little bit of it, but definitely not enough to get by on his own. A small surge of fear ran down his spine at that thought. He had spent a good portion of the war in unknown territories by himself, and yet now he was scared at the aspect of being along in Hong Kong? How pathetic was that? Quatre spared a moment to bathe in self contempt then brushed it off. If he felt it, there was a reason for it. He'd just have to explore it later because Wufei was sitting back now and the car had begun to move.   
  
Quatre continued staring out the window as they entered the actual city, the Hong Kong International Airport was forty kilometers west of the city, and tried to pay attention to where they were going. Best to start learning the way around now. Now that he thought about it, this mission with Wufei was probably a good thing. They'd be in even closer contact with each other than they were on Mars, and if there was anything better for driving lust from someone's mind it was trying to live with the object of said attraction. Personal habits would soon kill this feeling, he told himself. Besides that, Wufei was gung-ho for his job, right? This was a mission. There was no way Wufei would even act like a friend--not that he ever really had in the common sense of the word-- but as a partner or a superior, depending on the situation. There would really be no chance for feelings to grow. Quatre almost cheered.

Little did he know that a very short distance away from him, Wufei was giving himself a somewhat similar talk.

This is a mission, Wufei told himself, not a time to explore your sexuality. You want to be a pervert? Fine, think about it on your own damn time. Right now, we're entering a possibly hostile situation. You don't have time for friends, and certainly not for foolish hormonal problems. Put him in your spank bank and move on..... and if that wasn't the gayest thing I've ever thought, I'll shoot myself. Wufei winced.

Okay, so he was attracted to Quatre. After Buddha knew how many hours sitting next to him as he slept on the plane ride, Wufei could admit that. It didn't mean he was gay. It just meant that Quatre was attractive. But this was a mission and he couldn't afford distractions. If Quatre hadn't been right about it being too late, Wufei would have forced him on the first plane back the second he learned that Quatre couldn't speak Cantonese. As it was..."I'll teach you."

Quatre jumped slightly on the polyester seat, "What?"  
  
"I'll teach you Cantonese. It won't be easy, but being surrounded by it will help. By the way, you should call Mom first chance. She'll be worried." Quatre frowned slightly at the last part, though he was happy to know that Wufei was at least going to help him on the language problem. Then again, why shouldn't he? Wufei's ass was on the line same as his was. Nice ass that it was, it'd be a shame if... damn it.  
  
He knew that "mom" was Lady Une, but why had Wufei bothered to... That was when he noticed the cab driver was looking very tense and kept glancing back at them in the rear view mirror. At first it would have seemed like the driver was nervous because of the traffic, but since this was obviously an experienced driver--that detail given away by what any pilot could read of another, even if the vehicles they piloted where different--he shouldn't be too nervous in the kind of traffic he had to have driven in a billion times. No, Quatre could tell as easily as Wufei could that the driver was watching them. Why was left unseen, but caution was best to use.

Suddenly the car stopped. Wufei nudged him to get out before Quatre could stop to look around. The blonde quickly exited onto the bustling sidewalk, and Wufei climbed out of that side of the cab, since the other would have put him directly into the line of traffic. "We'll have to walk from here. There's not enough space on the road for cars anymore."  
  
Quatre simply nodded, a little awed by the sheer size and number of this city. Yes, he had been to New York a few times, but even they couldn't rival the sheer number of people that seemed to live all around them. His mind numbed at the thought of ever going to Tokyo. He followed Wufei in getting the bags out of the trunk, then paused to wait a moment while Wufei paid the driver, who hadn't moved an inch to help as some of the New York cab drivers would in hopes of getting better tips.

Finally Wufei joined him again and showed Quatre around the corner where they moved in between two huge apartment buildings. There was laundry hanging out of some windows, swaying softly in the breeze that managed to pass through the buildings on the upper stories, but couldn't begin to find its way down to the street. One moment after stepping out of the car and he was already sweltering. They wove through the street, avoiding play toys, and other strange items that littered the "road." It wasn't hard to see why the driver couldn't come down here. Even if there hadn't been all the debris, it seemed that one of the apartment buildings had been built halfway across the original road. While the map makers still called this a road, between the sidewalk space, there was barely an alleyway left between the two buildings.   
  
A few moments later they came to the front door of the building on the left and Wufei stopped, looking up at it. "Well... home sweet home."  
  
Quatre too turned his eyes upward. Wufei sighed mentally. A plethora of laundry hung from windows, there were some small flower boxes that could be seen. On the lower levels he could see some people moving around, and the pulsing glow of a tv in a dark room. Nothing like home. He knew, by a few trips he had made here with some clan members when he was small, that this was one of the lower class residencies. Not that there was anything wrong with it, he just hoped it would be safe for their mission. The walls would be thin, he knew, and sound might even carry up and down a few floors, not just to your next door neighbor. Could he and Quatre speak freely as they'd need to, or would the rest of the mission be spent in code. That would bring about a headache if he knew anything.

He dropped his gaze from the windows to find Quatre looking at him. "C'mon," He said, "Lets get this over with."  
  
Wufei's first impression of their Landlady, Chun Xian Mou, was sketchy. She seemed like the nice old lady that anyone could trust. Her hair was long and white and pulled back into a perfect bun, the lines on her face were deep marking of old age, and there were a few old age spots on her skin. Xian's limbs were frail, though Wufei had no doubt that she was still quite strong. Her eyes were squinted but she was not blind, and she spoke in a clear, brisk tone that spoke of no nonsense. However, it seemed she had quite the sense of humor, for almost everything that came out of her mouth was a joke, at least in part. The woman's amazing, resounding laugh seemed to shake the very walls. An odd woman, but sweet in her own way.

"You will like it here, I think," She laughed as she proceeded them up the six flights of stairs to their apartment, "Most everyone here is quite open-minded, and will let your business be your business, but we pull together as one big family when needed!" A squeal of laughter interrupted her and three small children flew past them. "Chi, Xia, Zhong! Get back to your mother before you hurt yourself!" Xian barked, but was rewarded only with more giggles as the three children continued on their way. "Oh dear..."  
  
Quatre looked after the children with a puzzled look. Since Xian spoke only Cantonese he had very little idea of what was going on.

"I'd better go get them.."  
  
"We'll help you--" Wufei began, thinking it'd go much faster with he and Quatre rounding them up, besides that the elderly woman shouldn't be chasing after children anyway.

"That's quite all right, young man," Xian cut him off. "I gave you the key, your apartment is the first on the right from the top of the sixth level stairs. You two go get settled, I'll go speak with their older brother."  
  
Wufei bowed to the woman, knowing better than to argue with his senior in this matter. She smiled and at him, and he noticed briefly that her eyes flicked back to Quatre with an appraising look in them before she focused back on him and gave a tiny bow back. Xian continued with them to the top of that flight, then parted to speak with a woman that was coming down the hall, calling for the three kids that had just run by them moments before.   
  
Wufei shook his head when Quatre asked what was going on, signaling he would explain later. He almost died on the first few steps of the third flight when he heard the conversation that had begun below them.

"... are those two?" A pretty soprano voice asked, obviously the mother of the children. "Can we trust the foreigner?"

"The two new tenants on the sixth. And yes, I believe so. He doesn't speak Cantonese, but he seemed very polite."  
  
"He doesn't? What on Earth is he doing living in Hong Kong?"  
  
"I thought it was obvious; they're such a cute couple."

END CHAPTER FOUR

A/N: Oh yeah, I am taking SO many liberties with Hong Kong right now . I did do a lot of research, but its hard to find any information about residential areas. 


	5. Chapter Five

Coming Out

A/N: Here y'all go, another quick update. (Happy Becbet? . I hope so; I want to keep the readers happy! I'm not too sure of this chapter, though)

Chapter Five

"What where they saying? .......WUFEI? What were they saying?" Quatre was trying not to shout. The man had already glared him into silence a thousand times on the remaining trip up to their new apartment. Now that they were successfully inside said apartment, Quatre would be damned if he was going to keep silent any longer. "WU-ermph!"  
  
"Stop," Wufei growled, his left hand pressed firmly over Quatre's mouth. "The walls here are thin. The neighbors can hear."  
  
Quatre scowled at him, but nodded and Wufei removed his hand, "What got you so freaked out, though? There's no way they could know..."  
  
"Oh, they think they know something all right." Wufei looked off to the side, pursing his lips a little.

"What is that supposed to mean?" A silver line arched itself up a little more toward Quatre's equally silver hairline.

"Based on the fact that you are coming to live here without knowing any Cantonese, and, I assume, added to the fact that you're coming to live with a friend of yours that lives in a pretty much Cantonese-only city... well.. the situation looks a little... odd to say the least."  
  
He could see Quatre frown out of the corner of his eye. The Arabian knew that Wufei was dancing around the subject, and how out of character it was for him. Finally Wufei sighed and, putting a hand to his forehead in a gesture not unlike one running their hand through their hair--even though his was, as always, plastered to his head--, he spat it out, "They think we're gay together."

The silence that greeted that was remarkable.

It seemed to last forever before there was a slight chuckle from the direction he was pointedly not looking in. Startled, he turned to look at Quatre and found the other man with his eyes closed, fighting against the laughter that was obviously bursting to get out. As Wufei watched, Quatre's arms slowly folded around his waist and he sunk to the floor. Once seated, he unwrapped his arms and drew one leg up to him, wrapped an arm around his knee and rested his head upon that as the laughter died. His other arm fell limply into his lap.

Dear God, Quatre thought, Two women who don't even speak the same language as I so--let alone know me at all--picked up on my biggest secret! And, they pegged me for the partner of the one man I've really wanted in years. This is too rich... all the same though... He stopped thinking like a lunatic for one second and focused on the mission. It was with a certain amount of surprise when he realized that Wufei had started speaking again.

Quatre looked up directly into the jet pools he'd been avoiding since yesterday. During his laughing fit, Wufei had knelt beside him and now had one hand rested gently right below Quatre's knee on one leg, and his other hand was lightly touching Quatre's forehead. "Are you okay?" Wufei repeated, all agitation seemingly gone, and replaced with what looked disturbingly like worry.

"Y-yeah... Its just damned funny is all... But no, they've offered us the perfect background."  
  
"I thought we already had...?"  
  
"How well is all of that going to stick now that I can't speak the language as well as we thought I could?"

Wufei paused then realized he was right. Oh, this was too coincidental. Still, it was the only option they had left for them. "So until this mission is over, we're boyfriends," he said resignedly.

"Pretty much.... honey." Quatre added a wry smile to the last, being rewarded by the sight of one of Wufei's eyebrows arching before the Chinese man stood up.

"Well... we should probably start getting settled in."

Quatre sighed and chuckled softly, getting up and looking around for the first time. The room the door opened off to was something a lot like a Japanese house would have, a slight alcove where there was an obvious place for shoes to go. Beyond that was the main room which obviously was supposed to serve as the kitchen and living room. There was a tiny divider wall between the kitchen area and the rest of the room, but other than that it was open. There were two other doors in the room. Wufei had gone to one and peered inside. "Closet," He muttered, mainly to himself, and shut the door again.   
  
By that time, Quatre had made his way across the room to the other door. He opened his mouth to call out the function of the room when his voice stuck in his throat. Wufei crossed the room to see what was wrong and groaned at the sight. One. Damned. Bed. This was getting far to coincidental.

"Well... I'm glad I brought extra bedding," Quatre finally said, with a short nod, and went back into the living room. The furniture was sparse, as Lady une had said. There was a very low table in the main room, the basic kitchen supplies, the bed.. and from what he could see, that was all. He pulled one of his bags-- a rucksack, basically-- up on to the table and began unloading it. The entire thing was basically bedding, plus some clothes rolled up into it. Most everything else would arrive in the next few days.

He looked up and saw Wufei doing the same thing to the suitcase he had brought, mainly packed with linens. Wufei's other bag was yet untouched. As he watched, Wufei began to make a pallet right there on the floor. "What are doing?"  
  
Wufei paused and looked up, "What does it look like?"

"No, you're taking the b--" A knock interrupted Quatre and Wufei immediately went to answer it.

"Did I interrupt something?" Xian asked coyly, both her white eyebrows raised.

"No, A-yi," Wufei shook his head, calling her by the general term for an "aunt." "Please, come in."

She smiled at the term of familiarity, a sign that he had listened to her about the tenants being like family to her, "Thank you. I'm sure you boys found everything just fine?"  
  
"Yes ma'am. It's a lovely apartment," Wufei smiled at her then glanced to the table where Quatre had risen and made a bow to their landlady. Xian bowed back, slightly, and smiled at him. Her eyes then fell on the bedding. She frowned, as if wanting to ask something, but she didn't, "Well, if y'all don't need anything, I should let you be."  
  
"Please, join us for some tea."  
  
"No, no dear, that's fine. Besides I have other things to see to, I just wanted to make sure that you're both comfortable. Good day, dears." She nodded and, eyes twinkling at some private joke.

Wufei shut the door behind her and went back to where he had left his suitcase. "She thinks its odd that you were making a pallet." Jet eyes glanced up at the silver man in front of him.

"I suppose she does," Wufei agreed, "Alright, I'll move it into the bed room. You're still taking the bed."  
  
"Wufei..." Quatre began, perfectly prepared to argue the issues that he was the one who needed the most sleep now, since he'd be going to work sooner that Quatre. However, Wufei cut him off again, "No. I know what you're going to say, Quatre, but I'm used to sleeping on floor pallets. I'll probably sleep better on this pallet anyway." He fixed Quatre with one of his most commanding looks and met the beautiful man's eyes once more.

It was like a magnet. Once they locked eyes neither seemed to be able to look away. The sounds of the people in the next apartment coming home drifted into the dead air of their apartment, and a fight started between the couple down the hall. Quatre had begun to shake a little. The silver headed man couldn't help it, he was angry. How dare Wufei do this? They could have just talked about it.... but Quatre had to admit he was right. From the research he had done it was odd enough that there was a western-style bed in the next room, most people just used floor pallets. And, Quatre had to acknowledge it, Wufei looked very good when he was in a dominating mood. Very, very good. He'd look better without the hairgel, though. Yeah, the hairgel needed to go. Did he always get distracted this easily? Wufei's good looks didn't hinder Quatre's anger.

"This is a partnership, Wufei, a TEAM, not a dictatorship. You want the pallet, fine, but don't you dare try to tell me what to do."  
  
"I will if you try pulling anything stupid," Wufei snapped, feeling very defensive. The moment the words were out of his mouth he knew he shouldn't have said that, but there was no retracting it now.

If anything, Quatre looked even more pissed off. "I am quite willing to accept that you're better in some things than I am, and will willingly accept help and leadership in those areas. However, do not presume that you are better than me in all areas, Chang," Wufei had seen Quatre angry before, but the liquid ice of his voice right now, and the almost unnoticeable shake of his slight body was something entirely different from those times, "If you were so worried about my 'pulling something stupid' you should have brought that up with Une the second she mentioned this assignment. I don't know the area beyond the maps we've been given. I don't know the language, and I don't quite understand the culture. I have always been better at tactics and personal relations and finances. I think we're even." With that he snatched up his yet untouched duffle back and went to the bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind him.

Wufei was left in the living room staring at the bared door and feeling very much like one of those pathetic husbands you see on the cheesy, predicable, American comedy TV shows.

END CHAPTER FIVE

. honestly.... I really don't like this chapter. I might rewrite it, but for now it stays.

Thanks to everyone who's been sticking with this story! And yeah, Pixie, he's gonna stay in denial mode for a bit. hehehe...


End file.
